Briarthorn Hive Origins

The following stained, dog-eared and well-protected journal entry could be found tucked in a corner of the cave... "After the Chrysalis hive showed itself in Canterlot, the public fear and hatred towards changelings was established. And who could blame them-an attack on Equestria's capital, the assault on and temporary imprisonment of their rulers, and a swarm of monsters lead against them-their reactions of panic and racism were only natural. However, some responses went too far. One of them was an independently-run and self-funded group that may have once intended to protect Equestria from another changeling threat arising...but clearly exceeded those goals in pursuit of something more. I have no name for this group beyond "Lab Exterminus, and their project of the same name. I was their first, and greatest achievement-'Subject Epsilon'. I am not sure how many of my siblings were taken before me for experimentation, nor how they managed to spirit us away from the Chrysalis hive-but I do know I was the only princess that they took. It was perhaps because of that I was able to withstand the extensive testing and genetic modification they performed on me. At first, it was only testing-innocent enough, figuring out how changeling brains work, what our bodies were capable of, how we did it-but as I matured, the tests turned to modifications. Experiments that struck fear into my heart, as I saw my siblings around me dying while I, alone, survived. Experiments that changed my cells, I heard them say, to do more than normal changelings could. Magical experiments that changed how my changeling magic worked, how I fed, how much food I needed... I do not know how long I was in that lab, and how bad what they did to me was. All I knew was that I was not some creature that belonged in a cell. I was worth more than this. Their biggest mistake, of course, was teaching me to read. They seemed to think that I merely did as I was told, only following directives and training. Foolish, as the more knowledge I acquired, the more I put it to use. I read their files, their documents, their research. And I eventually learned the truth. Their head scientist wasn't using me for research to combat the changeling threat-he was turning me into a bigger one. A bio-weapon, they called it. By augmenting my energy storage and increasing my energy efficiency, as well as changing my cellular makeup to allow me to change my body parts at will, even shifting into different creatures. Again, foolish. To think I was something capable of being controlled. All it took was simple bit of mind pushing during experiments on a few of the staff to get free, and from there...the rest was destruction. No amount of security or countermeasures was enough to handle the rampage on unleashed on the laboratory that had been my home since birth. And once free, I didn't look back. Fitting into society has been hard since, and it has taken me long to piece together my place in history and society, but I know this-I desire to be neither monster nor matriarch, merely a mother and normal part of society."